My first photo dump...and what have we been up to?

I'll be honest, when things are running good around here, I get L.A.Z.Y. with the blog!  But considering this is more like a digital scrapbook for me, I need to get with it and catch up on some pictures and happenings!  So consider this fair warning, haha!  There will be lots of pictures and crazy ramblings of our happenings the past few weeks (or later than that even?)

Main big event the past few weeks has been our NEW HOUSE!  YAY!  We closed 2 weeks ago and have started the renovation process, including building a new pantry (a staple in our house and it didn't have one!), scraping walls, patching walls, re-texturing walls, new floors, all new paint from ceilings to floors and a myriad of other little things that are in need of repair.   We are doing most of the work ourselves, as we hubby is handy!

Always a fun day at The Home Depot!

Sheetrock and joint compound have become common household terms now! Ha!

Before picture of the main renovation - the kitchen - texture gone bad and the problem of no pantry (oh, and the floors to boot!)

Walls scraped and mudded...beginning form of the pantry!  And pre-sanded walls

Studs going up!  And yes, hence the METAL studs we are using, we were surprised to find out in the inspection, we have a steel framed house!  Really unheard of around these parts, but I guess it's an ok thing!

Hubby will have to forgive me, but I need an action shot!  Drywall going up - meanwhile, I AM working too, sanding away on those walls! Taking a picture break!  It was only my 18th "break" at that point, ha!  

Finished pantry enclosure - we are finishing it up this weekend - I am SOO happy with how it turned out and the placement we thought might be a little strange, actually flows really well. We are doing a bench on the other side all the way to the back wall of the kitchen to utilize the corner space in the back of the kitchen...can't wait until it's all done!

I told you I WAS working...As you can see by the above "evidence"...So for evidence, I took a picture to prove I contributed.   Sanding walls is exhausting, but really any work is exhausting...

We wanted a fixer upper, so it fits the bill perfectly, ha!  It's been fun working with Dustin on "projects" and we love to do stuff like that together, so while it's been hard work (more for him, than me) it's been really fun to spend time together as a family, even Liam has helped some....

He started practicing his letters on the old linoleum floor we ripped up.  I told him this will only be allowed this one time and not when our new floors go down, ha! You can see he was trying to write my name, starting it backwards...pretty good!

This was the first try on the drywall (again, I was telling him "Go write on the wall!" then realizing I probably should explain a little better that he can only do that on THIS wall!)- he was still writing backwards, from right to left at first, but even still, his letters looked great and recognizable!

We were texting Mimi and Baba, so he was writing their real names =)...This is without ANY guidance of hand by me!

 ....or at least he's been learning his letters!  I was surprised he is writing SO well - we do not really work on writing much at home, so the fact he was able to write the letters I was spelling for him was amazing! We have another couple weeks of work, then we should be moving in mid-July!  I cannot wait, this will be an adventure for sure!  I really want to chronicle all our DIY projects we have planned (we have some cool ideas I am really excited about, mainly because this house has some quirky areas and we are having to be CREATIVE to make space work) on my other blog, but am praying if that is really were God wants me to spend my time right now...While I would LOVE to get more into design and sharing ideas, I'm just not sure I need to make an outlet for it.  Anyways, on with the show - that's it for now on house stuff!

Let's see, I will go back to the end of May when my sweet nieces had their dance recital - They were precious, I love to watch them dance!  Liam sat through the recital like a gem, and he really enjoyed it too!  Here's a couple pictures...

Tori, Lauren, Grace and Liam =)

We also found a new park recently, and it ROCKS!  It has little themed houses and structures all over and a lot of neat "things" for kids to explore and play.

And Liam is loving the camera lately, more so he likes to take a bunch of pictures of random things, but is enjoying being in front of the camera more as well...

This picture cracks me up!  We went with Dustin while he photgraphed some good friends of ours engagement pictures.  We actually bought some cool retro suitcases on the spot that day at a nearby antique shop we fell in love with and thought would make good props (and cheap!).  Anyways, Liam wanted to take some pictures on the suitcases, and here a train was going by in the background, hence he was holding his ears from the noise!

Poising for the camera!

Wish it wasn't blurry, but he was being so goofy, but NOT holding still!  I was desperately trying to capture his silliness and the moments of laughter we were having!

Liam confiscated my phone and went wandering around my parents house taking pictures of just about everything...

I startled him here, he didn't know I heard him coming and I turned around quickly!  Ha!  He actually caught the moment well! Haha!

Liam enjoyed a fun week camp at his old school  in early June.  He had the best time, and it was GREAT to catch up on work that week and not feel like I was neglecting him (working from home has it's downsides!)  They "visited" a different museum each day, and at the end of camp, they had an art show for the parents - very cute and creative idea!

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Summertime fun, trying to get out of the house before it hits 105 degrees is a little challenging, but I managed to get out about 7:00 am and we went to the Nature Park creek to throw some rocks...it was actually really nice outside and we ended up staying almost 2 hours!

Last weekend, Dustin's sister and family came in town, so we spent time with family and had a blast together!  We all had a big sleep over at his other sister's house not too far from here, and it was fun staying up late and just hanging out!  The cousin's had a lot of fun and played their little hearts out!

Antique horsey ride!

It proved very challenging to get all 3 younger ones to BE STILL for the camera...or at least at the same time!

At this point Liam was just being ornery!

 And LAST but not least, Dustin had a graduation event - He completed a 2 year course at our church for ministry.  It is an intensive course and weekly commitment for 2 years, but he did it! Proud of you hun!

That about sums. it. up.  For now at least!  Thanks for checking in!